Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Two Chinese citizens were charged in
Kansas City, Missouri, with trying to buy trade secrets stolen
from Pittsburgh Corning Corp. so they could open a competing
plant in China.

Ji Li Huang, 45, and Xiao Guang Qi, 31, attempted to buy
what they were told were documents revealing Pittsburgh
Corning’s processes for making cellular-glass insulation, U.S.
prosecutors in Kansas City said yesterday in an e-mailed
statement.

The two brought $25,000 to a Sept. 2 meeting in Kansas City
with an individual who was cooperating with federal agents, and
were shown documents purported to be company trade secrets,
prosecutors said. Both were arrested at their hotel afterward,
appeared in court yesterday and remained in federal custody
pending a detention hearing, prosecutors said.

Pittsburgh Corning, an affiliate of PPG Industries Inc. and
Corning Inc., manufactures Foamglas cellular glass used by
energy and petrochemical companies to insulate piping systems
and storage-tank bases. The company announced plans three months
ago to open a plant in China, prosecutors said.

Huang and an uncharged co-conspirator allegedly trespassed
in June at the company’s flagship plant in Sedalia, Missouri.

Attorneys for Huang and Qi weren’t disclosed in court
filings. Matt Dobransky, a spokesman for Pittsburgh-based
Pittsburgh Corning, didn’t immediately answer a voice-mail
message seeking comment on the charges left after regular
business hours.

The case is U.S. v Huang, 12-156, U.S. District Court,
Western District of Missouri (Kansas City).